Gwen Fire rages across North Idaho wine country

For days, the Gwen Fire blazed across the Clearwater Canyon, destroying parts of North Idaho wine country. 

Rivaura Estate Vineyard and Winery sits on the edge of the Clearwater River near Juliaetta, Idaho.

The wildfire was caused by a lightning strike outside Lapwai and quickly spread through the canyon. 

“They wanted us to evacuate but we said, no way … There’s no way we’re leaving,” said Lane Hewett, one of the winemakers who co-owns the vineyard and winery with his family. Multiple relatives live on the property next to the vines.

A view from the Rivaura Tasting Room patio on the night of July 31, 2024 shows the Gwen Fire cresting on a hill near the winery and several area homes. (Credit: Lane Hewett)

He walks over to the edge of the tasting room lawn where, on the night of the fire, flames started licking up the hillside toward the building.

“This sauvignon blanc got torched cause (the fire) came all the way up,” Hewett said as he pointed to white wine grapes near a blackened ridge. “We were trying to protect this powerline so we were just hitting everything where our hoses could reach.”

Hewett and his dad, uncle and brothers helped fight the fire.

“Thursday night, we kind of thought we had it contained behind the houses,” he said, but they decided to do one more check around the property.

“We did another loop around the hillside and that’s when it was just roaring again, and that’s when it was coming up around at my parent’s house,” Hewett said. “That’s where we kind of sat all through the night and battled that thing.” 

A few rows of sauvignon blanc grapes were singed in the fire. Hewitt said they’ll have to be trimmed back in the hopes they’ll regrow next season. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB)

With locals and firefighters banding together to fight the blaze while a helicopter soared overhead, he said it was like being in a warzone. 

“It was like, all this amber, so it was like, raining fire … It was crazy,” Hewett said. “But we’re good to go now, hopefully.”

After pushing back the flames for days, Hewett and his family were able to save everything except a few rows of scorched grapes. 

Up the road, Colter’s Creek Winery was not so lucky. 

“This was our warehouse, this is where we housed all our wine,” said Melissa Sanborn, the co-owner of Colter’s Creek, as she walked along the edge of a long pile of burned metal — remnants of the winery.

A view from the top of the canyon on July 31, 2024 shows the wreckage of Colter’s Creek Winery. (Credit: Lauren Paterson)

“You can see the metal rings of the barrels still standing up, the barrels burned up and the rings are still completely upright and intact,” Sanborn said. 

The scent of burnt wine hangs in the air. Wine is leaking from the storage tanks, she said.

“That’s hard, knowing there’s, you know, thousands of gallons of wine sitting in there that … I don’t know where it’s gonna go … into the dirt,” Sanborn said. 

Melissa Sanborn, co-owner of Colter’s Creek, stands near what remains of the winery beside a burned hillside on July 31, 2024. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB)

There has been an outpouring of support from vineyard and winery owners throughout Idaho, Sanborn said. They have offered to help if she and her husband still want to make wine. 

But right now, Sanborn wants to take some time with her family to decide what to do next.

“Every time we come down right here, I think it sinks in more and more. Like, ugh, this really is gone,” she said.

The remaining wine inventory at the Colter’s Creek tasting room in Moscow will be sold to help support her employees through the end of the year. They no longer have jobs because of the destruction. 

Hundreds of people have contacted Sanborn, her husband, Mike, and the Colter’s Creek employees since the news of the winery’s loss. Those who have reached out have expressed their love and support, Sanborn said.

“We and our staff have read every single message,” she said. 

All the wine stored at the Colter’s Creek Winery in Juliaetta was destroyed, but the cases of wine stored at the Colter’s Creek tasting room in Moscow will be sold, Sanborn said. (Credit: Lauren Paterson / NWPB)

If people feel like they want to do something to help, Sanborn said she’s hopeful people will donate to support the small rural Arrow Junction Fire District, the local fire department entirely run by volunteers.

“It’s a bunch of retired guys who like to get old equipment and fix it up, and they do this on a shoe-string,” said Sanborn. “They get grants, they get equipment donated … Our fire chief is 86 years old.” 

Sanborn said the fundraiser for the fire district would help them be even more prepared for another fire — like fixing an old pump.

“Just those little things to make everything more streamlined so the next time we’re even more prepared than we were this time,” she said. 

There are also multiple GoFundMe fundraisers for people impacted by the Gwen Fire. Rivaura Winery is also donating funds to local causes. 

“This weekend and all next week, a portion of all our sales are going to the Arrow Junction Fire District,” Hewett said. “Then, on Sunday night we’re throwing a big party here for everybody who came in to help fight the fires.”

A lot of the neighbors on the hillside stayed to fight the blaze and friends came out to help too, Hewitt said. 

In the fire’s wake, firefighters and community members were still working together to beat back the last of the flames.

”We had assistance from local farmers getting some plow lines in, all of that line has held,” said Joe Duran, the operation section chief for the Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team.

Fire officials are warning people to be cautious while traveling through the area as fire cleanup continues.